


just keep going (summer)

by bazookajo94



Series: seasons greetings [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew is suffering, Angel's Landing, Established Relationship, Hiking, Humor, M/M, Neil is here for a good time not a long time, Post-Canon, Summertime vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26253919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bazookajo94/pseuds/bazookajo94
Summary: “I don’t think you’ve offered enough for this.”“You still haven’t told me what you want.”“Nothing will be enough.”*Neil and Andrew hike Angel’s Landing. Neil has a lot of fun. Andrew wants to kill Neil. It is very hot.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: seasons greetings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907317
Comments: 10
Kudos: 163





	just keep going (summer)

**Author's Note:**

> you know when you're going on a hike with someone and you're not a very good hiker and so the person you're with starts taking care of you and you feel so loved? that was the inspiration for this fic. also the pouty face andrew would make when he's subjected to sunscreen lmao
> 
> two things: this might be a part of a series where I write andreil doing things each season (also can u believe???? i wrote something not au lol), and for context on Angel’s Landing, the twenty-one switchbacks are also known as Walter's Wiggles

There was a train of cars parked alongside the long and winding road because all the parking lots were full. Multitudes of people crossed the street without looking, children screeching and sprinting, parents laughing and strolling. Someone accidentally dropped their water bottle and instead of immediately picking it up, they watched impassively as the water pooled into the asphalt, drying almost immediately in the summer heat scorching everything in the surrounding area.

Neil added their rental car to the winding train of tourists, but he didn’t turn off the engine. Even with the air conditioner on full blast, every part of Neil felt hot and sticky. He did not look at Andrew. He instead watched as the man who dropped his water bottle, still standing in the middle of the road, slowly lowered to pick it up and turn to look at the mountain and deliberate if it was worth it to hike without water. 

Andrew, also watching the man, said, “I don’t think you’ve offered enough for this.”

“You still haven’t told me what you want.”

“Nothing will be enough.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

Neil turned off the car and stepped out, immediately choked by the stifling heat. He hadn’t thought that Southern Utah could get this hot, having never been there before, but it was the middle of July and Neil thought he might die in the stagnant, dry heat of this Midwestern desert. He probably should not have taken Nicky’s suggestion to hike Angel’s Landing while his and Andrew’s pro exy team were in town for a game against the Utah Raptors. He probably just made a huge mistake.

Andrew still hadn’t left the car.

Neil walked to the back of the car and started unloading their gear. He had done extensive research before persuading Andrew to commit to the hike—he wasn’t going to make Andrew hike passed the chains, he was going to bring a lot of water in the form of two camelbacks and two extra water bottles each for both of them, he was going to bring food, he was going to apply sunscreen. He didn’t bring a hat but he did have a bandana for himself, he brought a bandana _or_ a hat for Andrew (wide-brimmed or baseball), and he had sunglasses for both of them.

Despite Andrew’s adamant refusal to leave the car and the heat emanating from the black asphalt and the amount of people with the same idea to hike on a hot summer day, Neil was excited. He started securing the camelback onto himself, tightening the straps and making sure the tube supplied water when he bit down on it. Satisfied, Neil pushed his hair away from his face with his orange bandana and pulled out the sunscreen from the front pouch of Andrew’s bag, still resting in the back of the car.

Andrew’s door finally opened.

Neil didn’t look at Andrew as he slowly made his way to the back of the car, busying himself with opening the new bottle of sunscreen he bought just for this trip.

As soon as Andrew stood beside him, Neil looked up and had to actively repress the smile threatening to break out on his face at the grumpy expression on Andrew’s. Andrew was wearing tan shorts and a black tank-top paired with dark green hiking shoes that Neil had bought for him the week before. He still had his black armbands on, but then so did Neil. The sweat was uncomfortable as it usually appeared the instant they stepped outside, but both refused to take them off.

Neil took a step back so Andrew could step into his space, and then Neil began to secure Andrew’s camelback onto his person, tightening the straps and holding up the blue hose to his mouth so Andrew could bite down. Andrew did not cooperate.

“All you have to do is suck,” Neil told him. Andrew glared at his innocent tone, but he put the tube in his mouth. Satisfied that Andrew could get water, Neil returned to rifling through their things, holding up the hat options for Andrew.

Andrew’s lip curled at the wide-brimmed hat, and he looked at the baseball cap (boasting Kevin’s exy team logo) with disinterest. He took the bandana (black), and Neil stuffed the cap in the side pocket of his bag just in case Andrew changed his mind.

After Andrew tied his own hair away from his face, Neil opened the sunscreen with a loud pop, and Andrew’s glare intensified. Neil put the sunscreen on himself first, lathering his face and the skin exposed from his own tank-top (white) and shorts (orange). He stopped just above his shins, where his white tube socks ended. Straightening, he offered the bottle of sunscreen to Andrew, who immediately turned away from Neil as if to start the hike. Neil placed a firm hand on Andrew’s shoulder and immediately dropped it when Andrew stopped.

“I’ll kill you,” Andrew said, turning around, and Neil remained silent as he squeezed a dollop of sunscreen in his hand.

He rubbed the lotion into the tips of his fingers and then held his hands up by Andrew’s face until Andrew relented to close his eyes, still glowering. Neil applied the sunscreen liberally to Andrew’s cheeks and forehead, and he allowed himself to finally smile at the pout on Andrew’s face.

As if he could feel it, Andrew opened his eyes, and when he saw Neil’s grin, his hands immediately went to the sheaths in his armbands. Unable to contain it any longer, Neil laughed, moving his lotion-thick hands to cover Andrew’s.

“Sorry,” Neil said, trying to smother his smile, and Andrew’s fingers twitched under Neil’s. They both stared at each other in silence until Andrew relaxed, and Neil returned to rubbing lotion into Andrew’s exposed skin on his shoulders and neck. He didn’t bend to put any on Andrew’s legs, ending instead with a soft massage on Andrew’s hands, longer than necessary, until Andrew yanked his hands away and turned away from Neil again.

Neil grabbed the sunglasses, checked one last time to make sure they weren’t forgetting anything, and closed the back. He dropped the car keys securely at the bottom of the front pocket of his camelback and slid the sunscreen into the front of Andrew’s bag. He held out sunglasses to Andrew and started walking to follow the hordes of people making their way to the start of the hike. A small child fell trying to catch up to her mother and started crying as blood welled on her knee. Andrew and Neil watched the spectacle in silence as the child stood up and abruptly stopped crying at the promise of ice cream from the mother.

“I hope you fall up there,” Andrew said, putting on his sunglasses.

“Would you push me?” Neil asked, sliding his own shades onto his face.

“Without question.”

“Guess I’ll meet you at the bottom.”

“You assume I’ll wait for you.”

“I assume I’ll survive the fall.”

“You assume you’ll survive this hike at all.”

“I assume it won’t be that bad.”

Andrew didn’t reply, but his fingers twitched to his armbands again. Neil bit back another smile.

*

The first part of the hike wasn’t so bad. The incline was steady, and most everyone was happy to be on the trail despite the heat, and no one really talked to Neil or Andrew unless they accidentally made direct eye contact or shuffled too close to another group. The red of the canyon was beautiful, and the trees lining the trail offered something other than rock to look at. The sky was large and blue above them, no clouds, and the sun beat heavy rays into their sticky skin as the trekked up and up.

Neil made friends with a German couple who were avid hikers and who eventually left Neil and Andrew behind as they made their steady, fast pace up the trail.

Neil matched Andrew’s pace, even when sometimes Andrew slowed to a crawl out of spite.

Neil spent his time up the trail mindlessly looking at the scenery and politely speaking to anyone who spoke to him. Andrew spent his time staring straight ahead and occasionally eavesdropping on the groups around them. Sweat started dripping profusely down Neil’s forehead, and he often had to wipe it away so it wouldn’t get in his eyes. Andrew let the sweat fall into his eyes and considered all the ways he could kill Neil while on the hike.

When they started to get higher up the mountain, Neil would position them so that Andrew was on the inside of the trail and Neil had the outside, which meant they had to move around each other at each switchback. Andrew never looked at the drop below and never commented on Neil’s obvious appeasement to his fear, but his impassive face morphed into a more pronounced glare with each turn.

At one point, though neither of them was breathing hard or that winded, Neil stopped them and held out a granola bar to Andrew. When Andrew didn’t take it, Neil unwrapped it halfway and held it out to him again, content to stand there until he took it. Andrew said, “I will push you into a cactus.”

“Okay,” Neil said, and one of the hikers behind them laughed at their conversation.

Eventually, Andrew took the granola bar, and Neil bit into his own. Andrew started walking without Neil and dropped his wrapper on the trail as soon as he was finished with it, and Neil picked it up and stuffed both of their wrappers into the side of his bag. He bit into the tube of his camelback as he jogged to catch up to Andrew, and then he held out Andrew’s own tube so he would take a drink.

Andrew put a hot hand on Neil’s shoulder and shoved, and Neil tripped over his feet trying not to fall off the edge. He was grinning by the time he caught up to Andrew again, who was drinking from his camelback.

*

After a while, Andrew became too hot to be murderous, and Neil was too hot to laugh. They trudged up the suddenly brick-lined pathway, panting, and at the top, Neil gave Andrew an apple and ate another granola bar for himself. They both drank some water as Neil turned around and admired the view and Andrew stared forward at the people going up and down the trail. The next portion was shaded, so some of the life returned to them and the rest of the hikers. Someone started playing music on their phone, and others immediately started singing along.

Neil took a cursory glance at Andrew to see how he was doing at this slow juncture of the hike and noticed Andrew’s bag was loose around the shoulders. He stopped them, fiddling with the straps on Andrew’s bag until it was tight against his body again. He smoothed a hand over the straps on his shoulders and stared down at Andrew, who stared back.

Even though they were in the shade, they were both covered in sweat, and Neil took his palm and smoothed the sweat off Andrew’s forehead. He wiped it on Andrew’s armband, and Andrew grabbed the top of Neil’s bandana and tugged it down over his eyes before turning and continuing his way up the trail.

Neil, bemused, retied his bandana before catching up to Andrew.

*

The switchbacks started to get tighter, and as soon as Andrew looked up at the twenty-one switchbacks laid bare before him, he turned around. Neil grabbed the top of his bag and stopped him.

“Who the fuck is Walter,” Andrew grumbled, moving to follow Neil to the first of the wiggles.

“Probably someone in the ninth circle of hell.”

“A place I hope to see you one day.”

“At least we’ll be together.”

Neil continued to match his pace with Andrew, even though Andrew started slowing down exponentially with each turn. At one point, as he panted through another turn but refused to take a break, they passed a girl just standing and gasping, waving at two boys who were five switchbacks ahead of her and encouraging her to keep going, she’s almost there _, just keep going, you got this, you’re doing great, woo hoo!_

“Blatant lies,” Andrew panted as they moved passed her, and Neil snorted.

*

By the time they made it passed the switchbacks and up to the chained portion, Andrew found a shady tree to sit under and lit a cigarette, ignoring the pointed glares from the other hikers.

Neil stood above him and handed him a water bottle and some snacks, saying, “Don’t burn everything down while I’m gone. I still want to go to dinner with you tonight.”

Andrew blew smoke up at Neil. “Another deal, Neil?” he drawled. “You won’t have much left after this.”

Neil shook his head and turned to make his way up the rest of the hike, Andrew watching while he left.

*

When Neil came back, he was flushed and sweaty and walking with the couple from Germany who had left them some time ago. Andrew watched as they chatted for a minute before the couple bid Neil farewell, and he walked over to Andrew, who was in the same spot as he left him in.

“How did it go?” Neil asked, as if Andrew was the one who had hiked up a treacherous mountain while gripping chains and avoiding scores of people on skinny trails and trembling rocks.

Andrew stood up while Neil took off his sunglasses for a moment and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his wrist. He was looking at Andrew expectantly, as if waiting for an answer to his stupid question, and Andrew waved him off.

“Did you take a picture?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah, it looks pretty cool.” Neil pulled out his phone to show Andrew the selfie he took along with the photos of just the view with no Neil. “I also got some on the camera. Can we take one here?”

Andrew didn’t respond, and Neil turned to the nearest group of hikers and asked if they wouldn’t mind taking a picture. They took one in front of the tree Andrew had been sitting under, first on Neil’s phone, and then on Neil’s camera, and then Neil made them take a selfie. Andrew didn’t smile in any of them, but Neil looked bright-eyed and content in each photo, his sunglasses perched on the neck of his tank-top and an arm slung around Andrew’s shoulder.

“Cool,” Neil said after he got his camera and phone back and studied the pictures. He looked up at Andrew and gestured with his head toward the trail. “Ready to go back down?”

*

Andrew didn’t remember much about the journey down other than it felt like it took half the time than it did going up and people were more annoying. By the time they reached the bottom, Andrew wanted to be in the car and out of this park and away from these people, but suddenly it felt like the longest part of the hike was the stretch of time it took between the base of the mountain and walking back to the car.

Everything was so hot again and there was no nature trail to distract from the heat. By the time they reached the car, Andrew dropped his now empty camelback from his shoulders and rubbing the sweat soaked into the skinny sleeves of his tank-top. As soon as Neil had the car unlocked, Andrew yanked the keys from his hand and moved to the driver’s seat, starting the car and blasting the air conditioner. He closed his eyes to the hot air and waited for three minutes for the air to stop being hot. It took about that much time for Neil to situate their things in the back, and by the time Neil was plopping into the passenger seat with a soft groan, the car was cool and Andrew was back to hating Neil.

“I hope it was worth it,” Andrew said, putting the car into gear and pulling out without bothering to check for pedestrians or other traffic. He was ready for a cold shower and a bed he didn’t have to leave for five and a half years, and those plans could happen with or without Neil. He needed to start considering what to take in exchange for this hike. As it stood, Andrew felt he should be able to demand Neil’s first-born child.

Neil, who had pulled out his phone and was looking at their selfie again on his phone, smiled. “I guess we’ll find out.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes I made a cameo from the one time i hiked angel's landing in the dead of summer and my brothers abandoned me at the switchbacks and yelled encouraging words at me from the top


End file.
